


the girl from the circle: high school horrors

by purplecity



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff and Humor, M/M, Roommates, bad horror movie vs. two cowards
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-18 17:21:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29247210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purplecity/pseuds/purplecity
Summary: "Chenle said we should watch it before the rental expires.""Sure," says Renjun, swallowing the giant lump in his throat. "I'm not scared of horror movies, by the way."Donghyuck clears his throat loudly. "Yeah. Same. Pfft. They don't scare me at all."
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan
Comments: 6
Kudos: 66





	the girl from the circle: high school horrors

**Author's Note:**

> tysm jorja for the silly prompt :]
> 
> (warning for brief descriptions of horror scenes)

It's an uneventful Saturday night at their apartment when Donghyuck shoves his phone screen in Renjun's face.

" _The Girl from the Circle_?" Renjun reads, squinting, having to lean from his end of the couch. "So it's about…" he drawls as he skims through the description. "A demon girl terrorizing a high school?"

"Uh-huh," Donghyuck mumbles. His eyes fall on the TV remote laying on the table but he's not yet able to reach for it. "Chenle said we should watch it before the rental expires."

"Sure," says Renjun, swallowing the giant lump in his throat. "I'm not scared of horror movies, by the way."

Donghyuck clears his throat loudly. "Yeah. Same. Pfft. They don't scare me at all."

The two share very convincing stares until they finally, wordlessly, disperse.

They follow the same cadence on these movie nights like clockwork. Donghyuck sets up the movie, changes the lighting to match the 'mood', and fluffs the couch cushions. Renjun goes to the kitchen and makes himself dizzy at the bag of popcorn gyrating in the microwave for four minutes. 

In five, they convene at the living room once more, movie-ready and definitely not sweating out of pure dread. 

Donghyuck gratefully takes the bowl of popcorn and plants it in his lap, like usual. Renjun drapes a blanket over his shoulders and reclines with his arms crossed, like usual. 

There's only an inch or so between them, unlike usual. Which they quietly take notice and speak not a single word of.

The movie opens with the cliche horror movie sequence: dumb characters (amplified by their teenage-hormone-isms) make the most stupid decisions ever that catalyze the chaotic, scream-filled spiral that is _The Girl from the Circle._

It's not a good movie. Donghyuck, having seen its Rotten Tomatoes score sitting at a steady 23%, is well aware of this. Chenle had texted him about how he found himself laughing hysterically every other minute of the movie, "especially when the old lunch lady exploded in the cafeteria." 

Well, that can't be right. He just watched that scene and the room was dead silent. Why isn't he laughing too?

( _Chenle is a liar,_ he concludes.)

Stinger music resonates in the dark living room, accompanying the pale face of demonic terror that engulfs most of the screen. Donghyuck gnaws on his lip to hopefully stifle himself, but Renjun raises his brow at him anyway once the horror has died down.

"Donghyuck, are you… whimpering?" Renjun asks, his voice accusatory. Donghyuck recognizes that tone—it's the one that's usually followed up by a cutthroat insult that hurts his pride more than he'd like to admit.

"No," replies Donghyuck a little too strongly. A handful of popcorn is tossed into his mouth. Perhaps obnoxious chewing and a snarky _heh!_ will dissuade Renjun from prying any further. "I'm just humming. 'Cause, you know, this movie's _soooo_ boring. Like, I'm just waiting for the scariest—"

Donghyuck's voice cracks.

"—scariest part," he proudly finishes, refusing to look at Renjun.

Renjun doesn't say anything else to him. And less than five minutes later, Renjun encounters his own issues that he tries to (unsuccessfully) sort through. 

The movie has maybe passed the half hour mark when the Girl's full form is introduced to the viewer, mangled and crooked and in every sense overdone. The ankle-length wig evidently wasn't fitted properly onto the actress. Anyone can see it's just sitting on her head, lumpy and awkwardly out-of-place. 

Despite the poor production quality, Renjun's hand is subconsciously crawling up Donghyuck's arm. His fingers are so tense that Donghyuck thinks he can feel his every blunt nail digging into his arm.

Donghyuck turns to Renjun. "Heh," he laughs breathlessly, and he swears Renjun's shoulders physically jump at that. "Thought you weren't scared."

Renjun gives him a sour glare. "I'm not scared. Why would I be scared?" he returns in a huff, then straightens his spine regally. His hand shifts from Donghyuck's forearm to his wrist, tugging his sleeve down. 

"I'm just— I'm practicing how to take pulses in emergency situations. Obviously," Renjun declares, adding a scoff for effect. He presses two fingers to Donghyuck's wrist on very much the wrong spot to take a person's pulse. 

"What?"

"I'm taking your fucking pulse, Donghyuck. Jeez. Can't believe you forgot I'm a med student." A pause. Renjun's wandering hands quickly retract. "A— Anyways, shut up. I'm trying to watch."

A mild jumpscare locks both their bodies in place and Renjun is taking Donghyuck's pulse again. Donghyuck doesn't even mind—it's a lot just to balance the popcorn bowl in his lap, to not let his legs jerk and topple the thing over. Or let it slip in his sweaty hold.

Another half hour passes. The movie seemingly gets worse with every scene, bloodier and noisier than the last, and so do Renjun and Donghyuck's insistence that they're not on the verge of pissing their pants.

Donghyuck's shaky humming and Renjun's intense pulse-taking reach their peak of the night at the cheapest, most achingly obvious jumpscare of the movie so far. 

There were a thousand red flags pointing to the Girl's presence in the school's abandoned laboratory. The lack of music (or just one eerie violin playing the same high-pitched note); the slow camerawork, zooming in on the concerned nerd of the ragtag; the one person who thinks they're safe and does a sigh of relief prematurely.

Anyone would've seen it coming. Renjun and Donghyuck _did_ see it coming. But the college-age roommates find themselves just as horrified as the dying high schoolers on screen anyway, once the Girl jumps at them and fills their apartment with a shrill shriek.

"Oh my _fucking_ go—"

Donghyuck screeches on the top of his lungs as soon as he meets the bloodshot, wicked eyes of the Girl between her dry wisps of artificial hair. Next to him, Renjun apparently forgets how to speak to the point where he can't even spew any curse words. He's screaming too, impressively hitting a note higher than Donghyuck does.

In one big, honest mess, their hands flounder around and search for each other's comfort.

Donghyuck had reactively chucked the popcorn bowl into the air and it had landed behind their couch, littering salt and unpopped kernels _everywhere._ Fumbling, his hands decide on Renjun's shoulders and he clings onto him without hesitation. Under his breath are rapid prayers. He's not even religious.

Meanwhile Renjun is like a frightened cat who's about to slide down a tree trunk. His arms wrap around Donghyuck in desperation, clutching his uni hoodie like his life depends on it. He _screams_ into Donghyuck's ear, face burrowed right in the hollow of his cheek. 

It takes a while for their screams to mellow out into heavy panting and an embarrassingly long silence.

Slowly, they turn their heads. Only now do they realize their faces are _very_ close together, and that staring into the other's wide eyes is like looking right into a mirror. 

That's what they assume, anyway. And something is just so funny about this situation—the tight hug, shocked and unbelieving looks, wild popcorn stuck in their hair—that they can't help but break out into huge smiles and start giggling at the ridiculousness of it all.

"Dude, you scream like my little sister," Donghyuck exclaims, wheezing between delighted chortles.

" _You_ sounded like a donkey," Renjun barely retorts before he rests his forehead on Donghyuck's shoulder, his boisterous laughter causing his entire body to tremble.

They laugh for a good minute, a duration in which their grips loosen but remain intact. They may be red-faced in shame but hey—at least they've got a roommate in their arms who can shamefully relate.

  
  


  
  


  
  


When Donghyuck stumbles into the living room at two in the morning, he blinks at Renjun curled up on the couch, blanket wrapping him into a Renjun burrito.

"Can't sleep?"

Renjun's eyes are glued on the screen, pressing remote buttons. "Yeah."

"Yeah," Donghyuck agrees in a sigh.

As Donghyuck makes his way to the couch and sinks into the cushion, Renjun looks to him with a half-grin. "Musical romcoms?"

"Fuck yeah. That's my jam."

Renjun doesn't bat an eye at Donghyuck lifting part of the blanket so he can squeeze himself in. He quite likes the warmth, in fact. Donghyuck's figure fills the gap rather nicely. 

Donghyuck curiously tilts his head at something—something Renjun's arm is protectively hugging to his chest.

"Is that…" Donghyuck pauses to reposition himself. His shoulder goes behind Renjun's and he exhales through his nose once satisfied. "Is that the thing I got you for Christmas?"

"Huh?" Renjun turns from the TV. A romcom title is displayed on the screen, the colors vibrant and bubbly to reflect the film's tone. "Oh. Yeah, it is," he says, eyes tilting downward.

Donghyuck surely wasn't expecting to see that horrid rainbow-patterned poop emoji plush wearing a Santa hat a second time—in Renjun's embrace no less. His mind sort of assumed Renjun had tossed it, judging from his incredulous reaction to it that Christmas morning.

"It's so fucking ugly," Donghyuck says.

Renjun scrunches his nose. "It really is."

The movie's familiar psychedelic opening song drowns out Donghyuck's tentative question as to why the fuck Renjun still has the thing. But there's undeniably a part of himself that tugs at his heart watching Renjun's arms crossed over his stupid Christmas gift, hugging it fondly. 

Just as Donghyuck is inexplicably happy to learn that Renjun's kept the gift close to himself, he feels blood rushing to his face in elation. Completely abashed, he hides his little smile with the blanket until it disappears. 

Renjun doesn't see it, thank goodness, but it easily re-emerges once Donghyuck hangs his arm over Renjun's shoulders and their gazes meet again. 

Donghyuck hopes the room is dark enough to serve as a cover. It _would_ be, if not for the oversaturated movie playing in the background. 

It turns out to be a blessing in disguise. 

Donghyuck's idiotic smile may be in full view, but he does get to witness Renjun shyly smiling back.

**Author's Note:**

> [twitter](https://twitter.com/purpIecity) [cc](https://curiouscat.qa/pasupa)


End file.
